


Opportunities in this Game of "Life"

by LacieZ



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Ancient China, F/M, Medicine, Multi, Rebirth, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-06-10 04:51:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15284070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LacieZ/pseuds/LacieZ
Summary: Every human strives for a successful life.  But what is a "successful" life to you?  How do you obtain it?  I believe success is a future of laziness and to obtain this, you must use opportunities to your fullest.  This includes making use of your accidental death to deal with your world administrator to get reborn with the mind of an adult.  Watch me, a modern day woman, survive Ancient China by charming people into giving me a life of ease.





	Opportunities in this Game of "Life"

Humans are strange creatures. Every human strives to have a successful life, this becoming the long term purpose of any goal they may create. Of course, every individual has their own perception of this vague concept of success. Have you, perhaps, heard of the pleasure principle? It’s also known as a human’s will to pleasure. Basically, it states that a human’s life unconsciously revolves around seeking pleasure in order to avoid pain. There are many other similar theories such as the will to power, which claims that humans seek security through materialistic means in order to survive, and the will to meaning, which elaborates that humans seek a meaning in their lives in order to have a drive to fulfill the other wills they may have. All these theories attempt to explain what a successful life is, seeking what drives a human’s actions. My point is, everyone has a different understanding of what a successful life is. Keep in mind that people change, although rarely in a deep, meaningful way, and with them, their opinions may change.  
Now please understand that I am not excluding myself from this generalization. I also strive for a successful life just like anyone else. To me, this is having a financially comfortable life where I can laze around without worries and enjoy my hobbies, whatever they may be once I reach this point, as my hobbies and interests tend to fluctuate quite a bit. Of course, I knew that I had to work hard while I was young in order to have an easier future. Opportunities come to the youthful, a shame really, rather than the old. Therefore, one should always seize any opportunity that comes to them and milk it for all it’s worth. I admit this greedy mindset of mine, may or may not, be a factor of why I’m currently stuck in this strange situation. Before elaborating, let me explain the events that led up to this current moment.

“I finished making the progesterone cream!” I called out from the back of the pharmacy, peeling off a pair of latex gloves from my hands. I had been working here for two years as a pharmacist with a focus on compounding, the act of physically creating unique prescription medicine for individuals. Due to the raise of governmental regulations on compounding facilities, it’s difficult to find a pharmacy that provides this service. At the same time, it’s difficult for pharmacies to find new pharmacists who have any experience in compounding. Out of luck, I had a little experience from interning at a small compounding pharmacy during high school and came back all throughout university. I was able to secure a job with this experience and often do little work with patients or verifying medications, instead working on creating compound prescriptions.  
“Thanks for your hard work! Everyone already left so just lock up on your way out! I’ll see you tomorrow!” My coworker’s cheerful voice rang out, followed by the thud of the door closing.  
I glanced outside to see the moon peeking out from the clouds, dying the streets in it’s dim light. With a tired sigh, I carried the cream, along with the formula and my detailed records of my process to the main computer. There, I swiftly scanned the documents into the system and registered the medication into the database before filing the paperwork away properly. I placed the medication into the bin corresponding with the patient’s last name and seated myself back to where the computer sat. With a weary hum, I leaned into the seat, sliding my eyes shut. Work, although simple and enjoyable, had been draining and returning home meant having to drive, feed myself, and freshening myself up until I could sleep.  
Knowing I couldn’t escape my fate, I pushed myself off my seat to start my journey home. At that moment, a sharp pain ensnared my head, sending me down to my knees. I gasped at the sudden agony throbbing at my head, pounding harder than any migraign I had ever had. My head lowered and I wrapped my arms around it to try to ease the pain. Instead, I could feel the pain spreading from my head to my neck. My hand feebly groped my neck in an attempt to massage the pain away. Still, the pain continues to travel down my body until I was engulfed in agony. Darkness coated my vision, 

Many believe that humans are unique animals due to their intelligence. While I don’t deny this, I have to say our ability to adapt is much more amazing, especially as it continues to evolve. Have you heard about the raising rates of apathy within the younger generations? Many from older generations lament the fact that the young have become so disconnected from their emotions, however, I believe they are being too closed minded. This sense of apathy makes it much easier for humans to adapt to emotionally taxing events. I pride myself in being flexible in any situation, as I am young and typically apathetic. This skill is the main reason I’m able to deal with my current situation calmly.  
“Um, excuse me?” an unfamiliar, small voice rings out, pulling me away from sleep’s gentle embrace. With a childish whine, I force my eyes open. A young boy is standing close to me, his hands fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. Golden curls decorate his head, softly complimenting his azure eyes. Lacking any immediate recognition, I rummage through my hazy memories, remembering the pain that had overtaken my body. The ghost of the burning sensation ghosts against my skin, causing me to wince.  
“I’m sorry, but can you explain what’s happening?” I direct my attention away from the painful memory, deciding to focus on my current dilemma. The boy nervously nods, shifting his gaze around for a moment in silence.  
“So do you remember what happened before you you woke up?” he asks quietly, guilt washing over his face.  
“I remember I was getting ready to leave work when I suddenly got a really bad headache and the pain spread all throughout my body before I blacked out.” Recounting my memories, I assure him I remember everything. This only serves to make the boy fidget with his shirt more.  
“Um, yeah, so that pain that you felt was actually my fault.” the boy quivers at his admission. “I’m so sorry! I promise I’ll make it up to you!” I hold back a weary sigh, grimacing at the prospect having to deal with this child wailing in front of me when I need answers. My hand reaches out, ruffling through the hair of the boy for a few minutes, waiting for the boy to calm down, while my other hand softly pats him on the back. My younger brother had also been a very emotional child and needed me to frequently comfort him whenever he was scolded. After a few minutes of this, boy calms down and stares at me with guilt ridden eyes.  
“Can you explain what you mean by this being your fault?” I softly coo, bending down to be eye level with the child. His frown deepens for a moment but he nods obediently.  
“Um, so I was hired to be this world’s administrator a few years ago since the one before me retired and I’m still trying to get used to my job. I’m supposed to watch over this world and make sure it doesn’t come into contact with other worlds by accident but I wasn’t paying enough attention and this world slightly bumped into another world where you were at. When two worlds touch, it creates a really chaotic energy chamber that causes any living being a lot of pain. Even though this world barely touched the other one, it still created a really strong chamber where you were and you ended up dying.”  
The boy’s long explanation is riddled with pauses, tears returning to his eyes. I suppose this is where he expects me to anger, and I assume most people would be. However, as I stated earlier, I am generally apathetic and distant from my own emotions. Rather than anger or panic, I dived into a curious daze, questioning parts of his explanation. For now, I’ll ignore the whole energy chamber thing as I probably wouldn’t understand even if he gave me a detailed explanation. Instead, I’m intrigued by his position as “this world’s administrator” and if child labor is against the laws wherever he comes from.  
In order to get my other questions answered, I repeat the process of patting his head and rubbing his back. It takes longer, but the boy eventually stops his hiccuping and listens to my questions.  
“Can you help me what you mean by world administrator?”  
“Well, it’s more, or less, what your world calls ‘God’. Each world has one and we oversee the world to make sure other worlds don’t hurt yours, but we don’t directly intervene.” His explanation opens up for more questions about who he is and if he comes from a separate group of people, but more importantly, how well world administrators get paid. I digress.  
“Alright, so what am I doing here?” I ask, motioning to the darkness all around us. It’s at this point the boy finally cracks a smile and nods enthusiastically, as if he had been waiting for me to ask.  
“Um, so I’m not strong enough to bring you back to life,” he sighs, lowering his head slightly. He looks up at me through his curly bangs, eyes full of shame and regret. “But I was able to contact another world administrator and we made a deal so that you can get second life in their world.” He pauses to see my reaction. I plaster a smile on my face to urge him to continue, tucking away another weary sigh. “He said that he’ll be able to let you reincarnate as a baby in his world where you’ll get to keep your memories. He’ll also let you make three demands that he’ll fulfill before you’re reborn.  
A smile slithers onto my lips as I hold back a snort of laughter. This entire situation is just like the plots in the light novels I had read back in high school. The biggest difference is that I don’t have a heart of gold like the protagonists of those stories do. While they usually lament leaving their home, family and friends, I can’t help but to beam at this new opportunity. As I mentioned at the beginning, opportunities are the foundation to any successful life. This is the most opportunistic opportunity that could be given to me. Starting over, along with my current knowledge allows me to effectively act appropriately around others, gaining their favor and a life of ease for myself. I was raised understanding that hard work cultivates a happiness, but trials and experience has now turned my pride into regret. Rather than hard work, working in a smart fashion is the best way to obtain a blessed future of pure laziness!  
Perhaps noticing my smile, but the boy speaks up again, pulling me away from my thoughts. “Um, so would this be okay with you?” Hesitation and unease coats his words as he shifts his gaze from the floor to my face. His jumpy reactions are enough to bring a more emotional smile to my lips.  
“Yes, this is more than enough,” I assure the young boy. A smile of relief breaks across his face at my words. “However, I do have two more questions.” I note after giving him time to bask in his accomplishment. He tilts his head seriously at my words and silently waits for me to continue. “How will my friends and family see my corpse?” A frown replaces the boy’s smile in mere seconds.  
“Um, it’ll look like you died due to heart failure,” he quietly answers, averting his eyes from mine. I nod, a little disappointed. I had wanted to die in a mysterious fashion if I were to die young but it could be worse. My hand flops onto the boy’s head, gaining his attention once again.  
“It’s fine kiddo, I was just curious. No need to feel so bad since you did your best to fix it.” I decide to keep silent about the fact that most others would definitely blame him. He seemingly relaxes as I take the blame off of him and returns my eye contact steadily.  
“What’s your second question?”  
“What’s your name?” I had realized how inconvenient it was to continue calling him a little boy. That, and it’ll be easier for me to reference him in my conversation with the next world administrator. The boy smiles happily at my question, mistaking my question to come from a place of fondness.  
“Joshua!” I return his grin with one of my own, albeit less excited. “Okay, so I have to get you to the next world soon or the administrator will get mad at me. Please close your eyes.” Following his instruction, I slide my eyes shut. While I don’t hate kids, I do get tired out by them fast with their quick mood swings. Still, Joshua is at least more behaved than most. “Goodbye, good luck with your next life.” Joshua’s parting words sound distant, each word becoming quieter until silence again reigns.

“Welcome.” A new voice greets, prompting me to open my eyes. Similarly to when I met Joshua, I find myself standing in complete darkness with the unfamiliar face of a man peering at me. His features are identical to Joshua’s, albeit, matured and handsome. “It seems my brother’s mistake has caused some great inconvenience to you. I apologize as his older brother.”  
I put on a stiff smile keep from teasing him over his overly polite and fancy speech. While Joshua’s tone of speaking had also been stiff, I can easily see that it runs in the family. Although, it may be warranted considering Joshua had basically indirectly murdered me by accident. Still, I feel more relieved that I’m speaking with an adult, not having to hold back as much while deciding what I want for my three demands is much easier that way.  
“It’s fine, Joshua already apologized and I get to opportunity for a second life anyway.” I casually pat the man’s shoulder, smiling to emphasize my words. Though hesitantly, the man nods and returns my smile with a smaller one.  
“I see, thank you for forgiving him so easily. My name is Nathaniel. I will be helping you start your new life now.” I lightly nod to encourage him to continue. “This world isn’t too different then your own in terms of geography. The countries here are identical to the ones of your world. However, it does seem that my world’s technology and culture resembles that of a past time period in your world. To be exact, the mid fourteen-hundreds.”  
I purse my lips in an attempt to avoid grinning widely. A celebratory firework goes off in my head Nathaniel explains the lack in advancement. While it will be a huge pain living without technology, it allows me to not have to worry about learning new discoveries that I would have if they were further advanced. This also means that the bare minimum knowledge of topics from my modern society is enough to be considered fairly knowledgeable here.  
Probably misreading the reason behind me biting my lip, Nathaniel holds up his hands with a flustered expression. “Oh, but the lack in technological development is because the people of this world rely on summon beasts!” I cock my head curiously, a childish excitement welling up in my stomach. “They’re magical beasts that form contracts with humans in order to be cared for and fed. In return, these beasts use their power to aid humans.” His words come out hurried but I’m able to understand him, for the most part.  
“Really? That sounds really useful!” I beam, my mind wondering to various animals that I had wanted as pets. In high school, I loved to have large, intimidating beasts as my familiars in games but that may be problematic in the real world. I’ll just play it by ear.  
“Yes, it is,” he agrees, relieved to see my excitement. “Is there anything else you need to know before you pick where you would like to be born?” Nathaniel’s question silenced my idle thoughts and focuses me onto the situation. While I did live in America, that shouldn’t even be established yet in this world since it’s the mid fourteen-hundreds. England might be okay since I would be able to make a bunch of cash with my pharmaceutical skills but I didn’t pay too much attention during the lessons we covered England’s disposition. My best bet is somewhere in Asia. I’ll ready know most of the mannerisms since I was born to a pair of Vietnamese immigrants, who both held onto their traditional values when raising me. However, Vietnam is a very rural and poor country. Japan wouldn’t be so bad, especially since it’s before the warring period, but I don’t know Japanese and learning would be a pain. China might be my best met. The mid fourteen-hundreds should be during the Ming dynasty. It was one of the longer dynasties and it shouldn’t be too bad to live in. I also took Mandarin classes and become fluent in both speaking and writing so I should be fine. Alright, let’s go with that then.  
“I’d like to be born in China then.” With my decision made, I inform Nathaniel. He nods and pulls out a piece of paper. With a pen in hand, he scribbles down something before turning back to me.  
“Alright then, do you have a preference to what type of household you’d like to be born in?” I internally squeal with glee, delight to see that I’m able to give so much input. I had honestly expected him to throw me in some random place after fulfilling my demands and letting me fend for myself.  
“Yeah, I’d like to be born in a mid-ranking noble family with an son.” I had a single younger brother in my past life, and it was amazingly frustrating. In the end, I never hated him, but I’m not going to pass up the chance of having an older brother. I had always wanted one to spoil me and get me away from my parents whenever I needed a breather.  
“Just a mid-ranking noble family? Why not a high-ranking, or even the emperor's family?” Nathaniel’s asked, still writing down my answer despite his confusion.  
“I’m not aiming to be rich, I just want a comfortable life. A high-ranking family means that I’ll probably have to marry for some political means. If I’m in the emperor's household, my life could be in danger like many of the princesses in history. I have a little more leighway as a mid-ranking noble.” Satisfied with my explanation, he nods and scribbles a bit more onto his paper.  
“Finally, what are the three demands you’d like me to grant?” I barely manage to hold back my shrewd grin.  
“Okay, so first of all, I’d like to be able to have access to and and everything in my compounding lab whenever I want.” This is extremely important. In order to make myself a living, I’d like to be able to make use of my skills but they’re meaningless if I don’t have ingredients and tools. This will probably also come in handy with family and gaining favors since medicine was dangerously undeveloped at this time period.  
“Ah, that can be done.” Nathaniel agrees, his pen dashing across the paper furiously. “I’ll set it up so that you merely have to reach into your sleeve, pocket or bag and imagine whatever you want from your compounding lab and you’ll be able to pull it out.” I silently applause Nathaniel for his simple methodology.  
“That sounds perfect. Next, I want to be able to see a person’s specific ailment with my naked eye.” While having my tools and ability to make medication gives me more than enough influence, I’ll need an accurate diagnosis to make proper medication for it. Most doctors at this time didn’t receive enough training or education to make a reliable diagnosis.  
“I understand. For this ability, please form a ring with your pointer finger and your thumb and place them over your eyes to make a makeshift monocle. You will then see a person’s exact illness.” I can’t help but to marvel at how well Nathaniel is able to follow up on my ideas while he continues writing.  
“Great. And as for my last demand, could I save it for another time?” While there are numerous other things I’d like to be able to do, I can’t deny the possibility this wish may be more useful in the future. I think of it as an emergency reserve in case all else fails.  
“Ah, that’ll be fine,” Nathaniel smiles, finally pocketing his pen. “I have everything I need to start your new life now. Please close your eyes.” An odd sensation of excitement starts to dully bubble in my stomach, something I hadn’t felt for years. Perhaps I’m taking this second chance too lightly, treating it too much like a game.  
“Alright, thank you for this, Nathaniel.” With that, I close my eyes and wait.  
“Yes, until we meet again. Good luck with your next life.” I smile, his words fading away like Joshua’s had. They really are brothers, through and through.


End file.
